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<title>watch me crumble with the dawn by YellowMagicalGirl</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27102412">watch me crumble with the dawn</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowMagicalGirl/pseuds/YellowMagicalGirl'>YellowMagicalGirl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Disabled Character, For the record Barbara, Mentions of Death, Morgana | Pale Lady Redemption (Tales of Arcadia), Not 3Below Compliant (Tales of Arcadia), Not Wizards Compliant (Tales of Arcadia), Phantom pain, This fic can be seen as either platonic or pre-femslash, Unreliable Narrator, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, as well as other characters who get mentioned in the fic), broken down, doesn't actually show up in this, mentions of torture</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-09 04:41:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>782</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27102412</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowMagicalGirl/pseuds/YellowMagicalGirl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Morgana hoped that she would regain her magic sometime soon, if only so she could fix her broken prosthetic.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Barbara Lake &amp; Morgana | Pale Lady</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>watch me crumble with the dawn</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/17324891">Final Fall of the Pale Lady</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_the_king_of_the_ocean/pseuds/im_the_king_of_the_ocean">im_the_king_of_the_ocean</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>In this universe it was Merlin who cut off Morgana's hand, like we all thought he did until <i>Wizards</i> came out and forced us to question if Douxie &amp; co. really changed the timeline or if there was a retcon of the lore.</p><p>Also, while the author of the fic that this was inspired by no longer writes for <i>Tales of Arcadia</i>, you should <b>totally</b> go check out their works. They've got a huge backlog of <i>Tales of Arcadia</i> fics, and they also have written a large amount of fics for other fandoms such as <i>RWBY</i> and <i>Carmen Sandiego</i>.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Morgana <em>ached.</em></p><p>Not from the fall out the Shadow Realm to the accursed black rock that humans built their roads with in this century. Or at least, she didn't hurt that much anymore from the fall. The bruises were mostly healed. No, she had fallen on her right side, and her hip had taken the initial impact.</p><p>It was her left side that ached. Her left shoulder. Her left arm. What remained of her left wrist.</p><p>And, if she were to allow herself to be deluded by her own thoughts, her left hand ached whenever she looked at it and the deep, ugly crack that ran across it. It wasn't even the usual fractures caused by dark magic, because that would be a comfort. Her magic was deep, buried, but it would come back.</p><p>Not that Morgana doubted that she would regain her magic! She was the Eldritch Queen, and shadow magic was <em>hers.</em> No one could take it from her. Falling out of the Shadow Realm was a shock to her system, but she <em>knew</em> her magic would come back.</p><p>Eventually.</p><p>Hopefully...</p><p>Hopefully <em>soon.</em></p><p>Morgana did not like this. Without magic, she couldn't fix her prosthetic. Because it was broken, she couldn't move it. It weighed her down, dead stone grafted onto living flesh. And it made her left side ache.</p><p>Some part of her wondered if she could ask Barbara to help her fix her prosthetic, but no. That would make Morgana even <em>more</em> vulnerable. Without her magic, she was already weak enough. She could not afford to show Barbara another source of weakness.</p><p>Worse, she was wearing short sleeves. On the rare occasion that she had doffed her armor, she had always worn long sleeves and seemingly-decorative bracers over her wrists. They were to make her look intimidating and elegant. They were to make sure that no one would hurt her ever again. Not that she was scared, of course. But she wasn't used to wearing such short sleeves as the tunic that Barbara had given her to wear since Morgana's clothing had been reduced to rags under her armor. She was tempted to go find her helmet, and by extension, the rest of her armor.</p><p>Not that she felt unsafe without her armor. She was the Pale Lady. People feared her. She did not feel fear. It was just that Morgana wouldn't have to look at the scar on her left arm that she had never gotten used to. It was just that maybe, the armor would help support her left side.</p><p>Morgana didn't leave the underground room that Barbara had set up for her to go get her armor. It was strange. This room could have so easily been a dungeon, but instead it was rather comfortable. Morgana wasn't even sure if the door to this room at the top of the stairs would lock. It was a foolish thing to do for such a powerful prisoner as the Mother of Monsters. If there were anyone even <em>close</em> to as powerful as Morgana - such as Merlin when he was in his prime - she would have chained them up if not killed them outright. But Barbara refused to kill, and the closest Morgana had to chains was the accursed IV.</p><p>Barbara had done many foolish things. She hadn't told her allies about Morgana - if she had, then surely one of her dead son's friends would have come here by now, ready to kill her or - if they had the stomach for it - torture her. Morgana was pretty sure that she had given the Child the stomach for torture. At the very least, Morgana had made the Child's stomach strong enough to torture Morgana herself even if Claire would torture no one else.</p><p>Once more, no. Morgana was not scared.</p><p>It was strange. Barbara was trying to heal her son's killer. Surely she knew what Morgana had done to the Trollhunter. Or did Barbara share Morgana's hatred of Merlin, believing that Merlin had taken her human child and killed him more than Morgana's magic had? If so, that would explain Barbara's peculiar actions, such as how even though she hid away Morgana's helmet - likely so that Barbara's allies wouldn't suspect her - Barbara had shown her where it was. Still, Morgana did not say anything about the late Trollhunter to her host. Morgana wasn't <em>afraid</em> of angering Barbara. However, she did not want to risk losing this source of shelter, medical care, and food.</p><p>Despite knowing her helmet's location, Morgana decided not to grab it. The armor was heavy, and the weight might hurt her more than it helped.</p><p>She truly hoped that her magic would come back...</p><p>..hopefully <em>soon.</em></p>
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